1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to large-scale systems management, and more specifically to facilitating robust revision control of components of a large scale system.
2. Background of Invention
Keeping track of multiple revisions to frequently changing computer configurations is a challenge facing system administrators and others responsible for maintaining large scale systems. Because of the number of files and other components involved in a large scale system, installing new software, upgrading existing software or modifying the configuration of the installed software can cause subtle changes in many of the configuration files which can go unnoticed. These changes to configuration files can then cause system problems that might not be noticed immediately. Thus, various nodes of a large scale system can end up with varying and possibly problematic configuration files which can be difficult to identify.
Additionally, where multiple users make frequent updates to the configuration, it can be very difficult to ensure that each user has the latest version of each system component. Users without current components are often unable to properly interact with the system. Furthermore, these users might subsequently make changes to old versions of components and propagate these changes to other users.
Changes to system configurations can involve much more than file modifications. Directories can be added or updated, hierarchies can be modified and file and directory ownership, group and permission information can be changed. Additionally, existing files and directories can be renamed or deleted.
What is needed are methods, systems and computer readable media to enable robust revision control of a system configuration, including directories, file and directory ownership, group and permission information. The methods, systems and computer readable media should also maintain revision history information across file and directory rename or delete operations.